SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A defined benefit pension plan that does not have enough money to pay benefits may be terminated if the employer responsible for the plan faces severe financial difficulty, such as bankruptcy, and is unable to maintain the plan. In such an event, PBGC becomes trustee of the plan and pays benefits, subject to legal limits, to plan participants and beneficiaries.

The benefits of a pension plan participant generally may not be assigned or alienated. Title I of ERISA provides an exception for domestic relations orders (DRO) that relate to child support, alimony payments, or marital property rights of an alternate payee (a spouse, former spouse, child, or other dependent of a plan participant). The exception applies only if the DRO meets specific legal requirements that make it a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO).

When PBGC is trustee of a plan, it reviews submitted domestic relations orders to determine whether the order is qualified before paying benefits to an alternate payee. The requirements for submitting a domestic relations order and the contents of such orders are established by statute. The models and the guidance provided by PBGC assist parties by making it easier for them to comply with ERISA's QDRO requirements in plans trusteed by PBGC; they do not create any additional requirements and result in a reduction of the statutory burden.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the collection of information in PBGC's booklet, Qualified Domestic Relations Orders & PBGC under control number 1212-0054 through January 31, 2025. PBGC intends to request that OMB extend approval of the collection of information with modifications for 3 years. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

PBGC is adding one term and is making clarifying changes to other terms in the Glossary. PBGC is making other editorial and clarifying changes to the QDRO booklet.

PBGC estimates that it will receive approximately 253 DROs each year. PBGC further estimates that the total average annual burden of this collection of information will be approximately 190 hours and $177,100.

PBGC is soliciting public comments to—

• evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;
• evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodologies and assumptions used;
• enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
• minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology,e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.

89 FR 64965